> On May 8, 2024, at 7:56 AM, CAREY SCHUG via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> At a local linux meeting, the leader was disparaging any resurrection of old
> technology
>
> Anybody else reminded of the science fiction story where ethereal life forms
> arrive from a distant star system after receiving our first radio
> transmissions. life that eats radio and electricity, starting with the
> frequencies of our first transmissions, but then mutating(?) to all radio,
> then electricity even in wires, and wiping out all communications, vehicles,
> etc. There is a desperate project to resurrect steam engines (to build other
> steam engines) and breed horses. All those steam train museums turn out to
> be what saves humanity. just now I realized..shouldn't they also consume all
> the light too? But I guess they can't go beyond microwaves.
"The Waveries" by Fredric Brown, 1945. Never mind the bit about light; the
author missed the fact that Diesel engines don't need electricity, and also the
fact that thunder can't happen without lightning.
paul
